The Art of Sweeping 'Em Off Their Feet Literally
by starseer7296
Summary: Tony continues to bombard Bruce with his snarky remarks about his less than stellar social skills and tells him to try getting out more often. Much to Bruce's disapproval, Tony plans an entire guys' only week-long vacation out on the town doing god knows what. A bunch of the Avengers running around the city partying it up; What could possibly go wrong...or right. Bruce/OC
1. Chapter 1

Bruce placed his wrench carefully into the tool box, trying not to make too much noise, and ran a hand through his dark, messy, brown hair. It had been a long day, and so far nothing crazy has happened since the chitauri invasion. He was currently staying in Stark Tower…well, it was called the Avengers Tower now.

Surprisingly, Tony had offered it up to him as a work place…and a home. He hadn't had a legitimate home for a very long time, and so the offer was very promising. Of course he accepted the offer and Tony was ecstatic about it; he gave him an entire floor to himself, closer to the ground…you know, just in case, and even got his own lab, complete with whatever he needed.

Bruce sighed to himself and adjusted his glasses. He stretched his arms into the air and yawned, glancing at the clock as he did so. The small digital clock was blinking the time 8:47 P.M. _Hmmm…it's not too late to steal some left-overs from the fridge_, he thought to himself.

As the elevator doors slid open, Bruce stepped onto the massive, top floor of the tower and smiled softly to himself. Clint was laying on one of the multiple couches with Natasha beside him, his arms wrapped gently around her waist as they watched a movie…..Ha… least that's what you'd like to imagine the deadly pair doing…

"Clint, Give me the god damn remote!" she snapped at him, with her hands planted firmly on her hips, as she looked upwards at the ceiling. Clint was perched on one of his multiple hiding spots on the "family floor." Everyone had agreed that that's what they would call the top floor because they usually hung out there anyways.

He spun the remote like a basketball on the tip of his finger and smirked at Natasha, "Why don't you come up here and make me Tasha," he chided and then his lips spread in a cheesy, devious grin, "Oh, that's right! 'Cause you CAN'T!" he yelled mockingly and then pretended to laugh maniacally. Natasha growled angrily and proceeded to take the various sized throw pillows from the couch and fling them at Clint; he continued his silly laughter and dodged them easily.

As he walked into the massive kitchen that was almost entirely marble, Bruce couldn't help but laugh when he heard Clint yowl in the distance, "The force is powerful in this padawan, but you can never defeat the power of the dark side! MWHAHAHA!" He opened the stainless steel fridge, reached for a container of left-over pasta and tossed it in the microwave for about a minute, and began to hum to himself as he thought about his plans he had in the lab for tomorrow.

It was the same as usual schedule as far as he knew. Ever since he started staying in the Avengers Tower, he's never actually left; he had no desire to. The elevator doors slid open again, and you could instantly the hear arguing of Tony and Steve. _Great…that's just about the last thing I need, _Bruce thought and inhaled deeply, whispering quietly "Here we go again…"

"I say that you have your star-spangled pants on way too tight Steve, it was just a little joke" Tony barely got the words out as he sniggered. Bruce listened intently as he grabbed a fork from a nearby drawer, and continued to wait for his pasta.

"Tony! That was not a joke! Just look at me! I look like a complete idiot!" Steve yelled at the top of his lungs, obviously distressed with whatever prank Tony had recently played on him.

Clint's laugh was echoing from his perch and he chimed in a snide remark, "Stark, joke is a complete understatement for this." Bruce was surprised to hear that even Natasha laughing and she was a pretty serious woman to begin with.

Bruce turned around, pasta in hand, and almost dropped his plate as he burst out laughing. It took something pretty funny to make him laugh this hard, but this was by far the funniest thing he'd seen in a long time. Steve's arms were crossed and he looked furious as he glared daggers at Tony, who was currently rolling on the ground in hysterics. His once neat, blonde hair wasn't so blonde anymore. Steve was blushing beat red….the same color of his newly dyed hair. "Tony, stop laughing like that! Fix this!" he said as he fidgeted uncomfortably as every one of Earth's mightiest heroes, except for Thor, laughed at Steve.

Steve face palmed himself in the head and slumped into the chair behind him, "Thank god Thor isn't here…and especially Loki." And yes Loki does come here occasionally; he hated the Avengers so much that it became part of his punishment to hang out with them. Such a bad punishment right? Especially when he's actually started to enjoy the Avengers company after being with them for a while, but that's another story.

Bruce smiled to himself, Loki was actually a pretty cool guy; they had gotten to know each other pretty well. He and Tony had really come to like Loki. As it turns out, he's pretty into scientific stuff; apparently his magic was the same thing. Bruce highly doubted that, but he seemed fairly knowledgeable of the topic. Not to mention, he was a great prankster…._Wait, a great prankster! _Bruce stopped laughing abruptly and then looked at Tony who stopped laughing, looking at him too…..They both looked at Steve with a smug grin on their faces.

Steve's eyes grew wide and he gasped, "No! Don't even think about saying it you two!" He grabbed a pillow and held it in front of him, as if to hide himself from whatever they were about to do, "I mean it you guys!"

Tony and Bruce just pointed at Steve and shouted, "You just got LOKI'D!" Tony high fived Bruce and a new wave of laughter washed over them as they fell to the ground laughing. _Geez, they had hung out waaaay too much with Loki when he was here last month…_

Steve had stalked off into the kitchen, leaving everyone behind, to mope in his embarrassment. Clint had laughed so hard, that he'd fallen from his perch and landed on the couch, giving Natasha the perfect opportunity to snatch the remote. They continued to battle for the remote and eventually Tasha ran off into the next room, Clint trailing behind her armed with a pillow.

Bruce was laughing on the ground next to Tony, and he sighed. He hadn't laughed so much since. Since when? He couldn't even remember the last time he had laughed like that. _Wow,_ he thought sadly, _I can't even remember something as normal as laughing…_

Tony began to stop laughing and just smiled at Bruce, "Man, I've never seen you let go like that before, you're usually so quiet Bruce."

Bruce shrugged and fixed his glasses, "Yeah…well, I'm not really the type to have fun…" he murmured, standing up and beginning to fiddle with a button on his shirt.

Tony just raised an eyebrow at him, "Why aren't you the type...and don't say because of the other guy; that answer is bull shit," he said with a smirk on his face. "Why don't you get out more often, party and stuff, you know, have a little fun?"

_Dang…he knows me way too well _Bruce thought worriedly. The other guy did play a big part in it, but to be honest there was another reason he didn't like doing stuff; he was just shy. Working with the avengers was pushing it in the first place, but now that he's pretty close to them, it doesn't bother him as much as it used to, but that still didn't change anything. He was nervous to meet new people, what if they thought he was weird or boring or a freak? Ugh…he just didn't want to deal with people…he was too scared to. "Well…uh…I guess you could say I don't play well with others usually…" _Crap. Crap. Crap. Why do I have to suck so much at just talking!_

Tony looked at him disapprovingly and inquired snappily, "That's the answer I told you I didn't want to hear in the first place Bruce." Bruce just looked at Tony, and then looked back down at ground. He could feel Tony's stare burning into him, and he glanced up for a moment.

Tony was smiling at him, "Come on Banner, spit it out, I'm waiting for an answer and I'm not going anywhere until I get one." _Damn this guy never gives me a break!_ Bruce opened his mouth, prepared to tell Tony the truth and…"You know, I'm still really hungry and I made pasta so I'm just gonna go now…" he rambled out in a jumble of words as he snatched his plate from the coffee table, "uh…bye." Bruce strode quickly to the elevator before he could hear Tony make another sassy retort, and pressed the button for his floor. Tony just stared at him with a smug grin on his face as the doors shut.

With a huge sigh of relief, Bruce slid down against the elevator wall to the ground and ran his hands over his face and through his hair. Tony had had that freaky "I know what's going on here" face, and that meant he was planning something. All Bruce knew was that he wasn't gonna like it one bit; he got off on his floor and trudged over to his bed and fell face first into his pillow and groaned, "Fuck…"

Tony smirked and stated loudly, "Guess where you're going!" Bruce gave a cry of surprise and flipped of his bed, landing hard on the floor. Tony laughed and hoped off the other side of his bed and walked around it, his iron man suit making clanking noises as he walked, and stood over Bruce, sprawled out over the floor.

Bruce picked up his glasses and slipped them back on, and he glared at Tony, his eyes showing a slight hint of green and snarled, "What the hell were you thinking Stark!"

Tony raised his hands slowly and said calmly, "Easy tiger, I just wanted to catch you before you got up here….." he smiled deviously, "So I could tell you my plans for you this week."

Bruce was breathing steadily with his eyes closed, and then he looked up at Tony in confusion," Plans? What plans?"

Tony was practically grinning from ear to ear, and grasped Bruce's hand to help him up, "We are gonna go on vacation! Clint, Steve, You, Thor, and I, hell, even Loki's coming!" He said with great excitement, and all Bruce could do was stare at him dumb founded, "Just us guys!"

"Um…We're what?" Bruce asked worriedly, "I thought you said we were….what?"

Tony exclaimed again, "You heard me; we're leaving this tower and taking a break! We're gonna party like there's no tomorrow, just wait til you here the plans!"

As Tony started to spew his hectic trip out in great deal to Bruce, he held his head in his hands and slumped into chair…_Oh god Stark what are you trying to get me into to…_


	2. Chapter 2: Ready to Roll! Or Maybe Not

**Hey guys! So this is the second chapter, this is my first fanfiction that I've ever written, so it's probably not too good, but I'm glad you guys are willing to read it :D I'll probably have the next chapter ready in a few days, so until then, enjoy! Don't worry, I promise it'll speed up more soon. Thanks again!**

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Bruce trudged back and forth throwing random assortments of notebooks, clothes, and tools into his miserably tiny suitcase, grumbling to himself. He wasn't really quite sure how Tony had convinced him to go along with this trip, but somehow he had gotten him to say yes. _I can't believe I'm doing this right now when I have work to do. _Bruce had planned to be working on some research that Director Fury had asked him to look at. Recently, some agents had retrieved some very strange information on a rather odd study of genetics from an anonymous sender. It was actually very interesting and he wanted to try doing some experiments based off of the information, but now he was being dragged off on some deranged adventure of Tony's.

Bruce sighed and looked down at the classified file. He bit his lip slightly and picked up the file with one hand. _I can't just leave it here though…_Bruce jumped slightly as he heard the elevator ding, and he made the quick decision to shove the file into the suitcase, under all of his belongings. Tony came in wearing a red crew neck shirt, a black blazer, black skinny jeans, and his favorite pair of sunglasses. He was on the phone, to whom he was talking, Bruce wasn't sure.

"Yup, Friday night, send the invites out as soon as possible babe….hmm, to who? Just send them to everyone on my other lists 'mmkay? Okay, I gotta go…." he tapped his foot looking rather annoyed, "seriously Pep, I gotta go; oh and wear that blue dress I like at the party alright. Thanks." He hung up and looked at Bruce and motioned to the elevator, "You ready to roll Bruce, the guys are all waiting downstairs; Loki and Thor just got here."

Bruce adjusted his glasses, even though they were perfectly fine; it was just an old habit from high school. "Uh, yeah, I just need to go grab my…" Before he could finish speaking tony was digging through the contents of his suit case with a disappointed look on his face. Bruce looked surprised and pushed Tony away gently, "Tony what are you doing, I just packed that!"

Tony shook his head, "This isn't what you need to bring." He kept trying to pull stuff out, and Bruce continuously threw it back in.

"Tony, this is seriously all I need, what more do you possibly want me to bring?" Bruce asked with his arms crossed as he looked at Tony expectantly. Tony looked up from his trouble making and smirked, "Like I said before Bruce, You're tip-toeing, you gotta strut," he pulled out his phone and typed something really quickly and smiled to himself smugly, "you are going to be picking up all the ladies this weekend, and you need to look good because no offense, but your taste in clothes kinda sucks." Bruce grimaced, even though he knew that was true, the comment still stung him a bit.

Tony started to walk over to the elevator and as the door opened, he placed his hand over it, to keep it from closing. He looked at Bruce and gestured to his mess off a suitcase, "Don't worry about that stuff, I just told Jarvis to pack you something more suitable," his smile was practically gleaming as he saw Bruce's obvious embarrassment, "Don't worry Bruce, you'll look great!" The doors were silently closing and Tony said rather quickly as a last thought, "Oh, but feel free to bring this stuff with you!" he said holding up the classified file, "it seems pretty interesting." Bruce's eyebrows rose in surprise and he took a step towards the door, "Tony! What the hell! That's…" the doors shut completely and Bruce whispered "mine…"

Bruce bickered to himself as he grabbed his notebooks and tools from the mess of a suitcase, and tossed them into a smaller backpack. _If Tony's taking that, then I'm going to bring the rest of my stuff anyways. _Bruce swung the backpack over his shoulder and pressed the button for the elevator, it opened almost instantly, and inside was a brand new, black leather suitcase with his initials engraved in gold on it. Bruce ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. L_eave it to Tony to torture me by picking out something totally flashy. _The doors slide open on the family floor and an explosion of sound startled him.

It seemed like just about everyone was yelling or running around spastically, looking for various things. Clint was searching under the couch and snapping at Natasha, "Tasha, where is my retractable bow!" Tasha was reading a magazine and retorted without looking up, "You won't need it on your trip Clint, you're not gonna be doing anything fighting related, unless you try hitting on another girl, then you may regret not having your bow." Bruce grinned as he noticed the edge of the bow sticking out from Tasha's hoodie sleeve. Natasha noticed Bruce enter the room and nodded in greeting. Bruce nodded back and pointed at his own sleeve, Tasha's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise and she quickly adjusted her position and the bow no longer peeked out from her sleeve, she smiled, a silent thank you, and Clint continued to run around looking for his bow.

Bruce walked past the bathroom door, which was shut, but he heard yelling coming from inside. "Tony! The red still isn't out all the way!" Steve shouted worriedly. He heard Tony chuckle, "It looks fine! Only the tips are still kinda reddish." Steve muttered something that Bruce couldn't hear clearly, but it sounded like a string of curses and Tony laughing loudly, "You know, it wouldn't look so stupid if you just let me spike it a little bit." Bruce heard more bickering smiled to himself. He continued to the kitchen and was surprised to see Thor devouring pop tarts and Loki rummaging through the fridge. _Oh yeah! Tony said they were here…_

Thor looked up from his strawberry pop tarts and he grinned widely at Bruce, "Greetings Banner! It is good to see you!" He walked over with his arms spread wide, and gave Bruce a crushing hug. The air was knocked out of him and he huffed out breathlessly, "Nice to see you to Thor." Thor released him and backed away smiling and gestured to Loki, "Brother! Come give your greetings to Dr. Banner!" Loki's face peeked out above the open fridge door, glaring at Thor at first and then his gaze flitted over to Bruce and his gaze softened, "Greetings beastie," he said playfully and Bruce blushed slightly as he nodded and smiled, "Yeah, I'm glad to see you too reindeer games, how's Asgard treating you?" Loki shrugged and shut the fridge with a bowl of grapes. "Quite well I suppose," he popped a grape into his mouth and looked thoughtful, "If I can recall, the snake venom burned my eyes out about eleven times…" Bruce winced, "Are Asgard's punishments always that gruesome?" Loki nodded, "More or less, but yes, they usually are."

Just as their conversation ended, Tony came strolling into the kitchen and clapped his hands together, "Alright! You guys ready to roll?" Bruce nodded in response and then looked at Thor and Loki again; they were still wearing their Asgardian clothing. Tony noticed too and then frowned and gestured to the two gods, "You guys do realize that you can't just walk around like this, right?" Loki stood up with a smug look on his face, "Well, I know that Stark, give me a second!" Within a blink of an eye, Loki's armor had practically faded away. He was wearing a blue V-neck shirt, grey skinny jeans, and a black leather jacket; his hair had even become much shorter and rather curly. He grinned and posed dramatically, "What do you think?" Bruce and Tony looked at him, his magic never ceased to amaze them. Tony piped up, "Looking good Loki, what about Thor…"

Loki tapped Thor's shoulder and his armor faded too. He was wearing a red flannel, a grey vest, and dark blue jeans. Loki proceeded to tap Thor's head and his hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail. Loki backed away from his good work and sighed, "There, he looks decent now I suppose. Bruce sniggered; Thor had hardly noticed the change as he had started his third box of pop tarts. Tony grinned and then began to walk away, "Okay, Let's hit the road gang!"

Bruce shook himself out slightly and breathed steadily, _Okay, here we go….everything is gonna be just fine…right?_


	3. Chapter 3: Small SpacesBig Problems

**So i got very bored today and wrote another two chapters...originally it was gonna be one, but it got waaaaay too long sp i split it XD anyways the story is slowly picking up speed, and it'll get better i promise! if you have any suggestions or ideas go ahead and hit me, cause i'm all ears! thanks!**

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Tony had definitely done a great job planning this trip, but he absolutely sucked with his timing; they originally planned to leave the tower at around 10:00 a.m., they ended up leaving at 12:45. _Good thing it's Tony's own private transport and he can leave when he wants to, but the driver probably isn't too happy to have sat in the car for almost three hours_ Bruce thought as they walked out of the elevator onto the first floor. As soon as everyone was ready to leave, they were out the door, in a matter of minutes. Natasha had gone with them to the front door to say goodbye to everyone, and threaten Clint if he considered hitting on other girls that weren't named Natasha Romanoff. So to make matters short on what happened exactly, all that the guys saw Tasha do was whisper something in Clint's ear and watch him wince slightly, but then playfully peck her on the lips and run after them.

Bruce followed after Tony, the others trailing behind them, and they arrived at a limo. Bruce couldn't help but grimace; _was this really necessary to just drive around the city, especially for a week? _Thor looked especially excited and started spewing questions about the strangely elongated vehicle once they had all gotten inside and taken a seat. Unfortunately for Bruce, he was stuck sitting by Thor the entire ride to…well, to where ever, he still had no idea where Tony was taking them.

After a long grueling hour of driving and Thor asking even more questions about random things like how ice cream and pop tarts were made, they had finally arrived at their destination. Tony popped out of the car first and told them to stay put, slamming the door in their faces before they could get a glimpse of where they were. Bruce couldn't stop wondering if Tony was up to something; it was most definitely a possibility, but why would he be so persistent on keeping them in the dark? Bruce looked over at Clint who was amusing himself by trying to balance his open water bottle on Steve's head. He was asleep of course and Bruce raised an eyebrow at Clint, "Really Clint? Really?"

Clint snatched the water bottle as it fell, but a splash of water landed on Steve's face and he awoke abruptly, looking ready to nail someone in the face. "What the heck was that for?" he inquired snappily as he whipped his face off with his sleeve. Loki was sniggering quietly in his seat next to Thor, and Thor was hardly paying attention. Before Clint could be ratted out for his crime, Tony swung the door open and motioned for them to get out, "Alright! Everyone out, we've gotta get going if we want to reach Hawaii before night falls". Bruce looked at Tony with utter annoyance; he knew it! Tony wasn't taking them out around the city; he was taking them on some crazy trip! He couldn't stop himself from being a little ticked off and groaned. Bruce stayed put in his seat while the rest of the guys got out, seeing that there was gonna be some tension between the science duo.

Of course Tony noticed his reaction, and as soon as the others were gone, he pointed out, "Bruce come on, I told you this would be a trip for you, and what you need is to have some fun and let loose! The best place I could think of for doing just that was Hawaii…not to mention there are plenty of hot babes for us guys," Tony said as he gave Bruce a quick wink. Bruce just sat with his arms crossed, glaring at Tony. How badly he wanted to just disappear and be back in his lab doing work by himself. He was a loner, and it didn't matter because he preferred it that way anyways. Not to mention he had some other very good reasons why he wouldn't- correction - couldn't ride on that plane.

"Tony, I need to tell you something…" Bruce mumbled quietly as he searched for the right words to tell him that he wasn't getting onto that private jet; he really hated small spaces…especially flying small spaces. Tony never even gave him the chance to voice his feelings; he had grabbed him by his hand and literally dragged him onto the jet. Not to mention he closed the door behind him. Bruce almost lost his cool after being handled like that and the guys had to calm him down somehow.

So Clint decided to let Bruce punch Tony, square in the jaw, and as soon as he did that Bruce felt slightly relieved, but he was still starting to panic; the hellicarrier was one thing- it was huge and he didn't feel claustrophobic in there- Tony's private jet was a completely different story. He felt trapped and caged-like an animal. _It's gonna be alright. I'm going to be fine. It's going to be…_Bruce started to feel like the walls were caving in on him and his breathing was becoming sort and rapid. He could see Clint in front of him trying to calm him down, but he could only see his lips moving silently without words. Loki was dragging the dazed Stark onto the long cushioned seats, while Thor looked at Bruce worriedly, not knowing what to do. Everyone was freaking out…and it wasn't helping Bruce one bit.

Bruce's eyes grew wide as he realized that he was slowly losing his grip to the other guy. He shut his eyes tightly, and curled up, hugging his legs tightly. He tried to breathe steadier, and struggled greatly. _NO! Not here! Not NOW! The plane is taking off dammit!_ _Why did I have to get dragged into this!? I just wanted to stay home! Why didn't they just listen to me?!_ Bruce slowly started to regain his thoughts, but before he could gain control of his breathing he heard Tony yell right next to his face, "Bruce! You need to calm down NOW!" _That's it…_Bruce's hand shot out and he grasped Tony's shirt collar and growled "WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M TRYING TO DO," his voice sounding remarkably monstrous in comparison to his usual shy murmuring.


	4. Chapter 4: A Kiss for Your Thoughts

**TADA! Told ya i wrote two chapters XD Enjoys and please review/comment/etc.**

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Tony cringed and pried helplessly at Bruce's hand, but he had an iron grip. Bruce's once honey brown eyes were electric green, and his teeth were barred tightly in a snarl. Tony looked with wide eyes at Bruce and didn't know what to do. Bruce was clearly gone now and they couldn't think of anything to get him back. They were totally screwed if he completely hulked out now! Before Tony could make another move, Bruce released his grip and fell back on his knees, beginning to groan in agony. Tony looked at the others expectantly, but was returned with equally helpless faces. They had decided it would be best to leave their weapons at home…it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Steve looked around frantically, looking for anything they could use as defense. There was nothing! Clint looked thoughtful for a split second and then shouted at Tony, "We need to get his mind off of this somehow with some sort of big distraction, so Bruce can have a small window of opportunity to calm down!" Steve looked frustrated and threw his hands into the air, "Like what!? What can we possibly do to get his mind off of turning into a giant green rage monster!"

Loki was cringing in the corner, curled up in a seat, clearly recalling his last meeting with the Hulk. He didn't want to meet him again, especially in an enclosed area this small. He looked at Tony with his wide, fearful gaze.

Tony froze for a moment having a little flashback…whenever Pepper gets ticked off with him, he usually just kisses her to interrupt her; it's abrupt and works practically every time at distracting her. Ugh…Tony didn't want to resort to that option just yet. He looked back at Bruce, his skin was starting to turn green…and fast. Dammit! I don't want to kiss Bruce! Before Tony could make up his mind, Loki had lunged at Bruce and pinned him down hard. Wait, was it Loki?

A raven haired woman had Bruce pinned hard to the ground, and before he could react, she pressed her green lips against Bruce's lips. Bruce's expression looked momentarily confused, and after he blinked, his eyes were brown again. The women continued to kiss Bruce, and held him closely by the collar of his shirt. As if someone had just woken him from a deep trance, Bruce pushed himself away and the green slowly faded away from his skin, only to be replaced by a bright pink blush, "Um..." he whispered quietly, "C-Could you please get off of me please?"

Steve was blushing bright red and he averted his eyes, while also covering Thor's eyes. Tony and Clint just stared at the odd scene before them. A naked female Loki, who was surprisingly hot, had just made out with Bruce as he was hulking out to stop him…and it actually worked. Bruce's glasses fogged up and he looked at his feet awkwardly, he was embarrassed like no other.

Clint sniggered quietly, but Tony glared at him, the silent remark to shut up, "Um, Loki?" The woman looked up with a dazed look upon her face, "Yeah?"

Tony smiled slightly, "Not that you're bad looking, but please do us all a favor and put some clothes on; better yet…please go back to being a guy…like now."

Loki instantly changed back into himself, and got up silently to go sit back in his corner. Bruce didn't dare look at him and sat quietly, pulling at one of the tears he had made in his shirt. Tony looked at Loki questioningly, how did he know what I was thinking? He was about to ask Loki, but he said quietly, "Remember how you had me make a thought-connection spell between us two to help with part of your experiment last time I was here?" Tony nodded slowly, starting to draw conclusions. Loki mumbled embarrassedly, "It never wore off like I planned…soooo our minds our still connected; I can hear your thoughts…"

Clint and Steve looked utterly confused, and Thor just looked downright horrified. Which was pretty understandable I suppose. The point is, Loki just saved their sorry asses, and Bruce felt horrible because of it. He should have been able to control himself better. Bruce sighed and looked around at everyone- except for Loki- and stammered, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to− It just happened so quickly…" Everyone was silent, and then Steve piped up, "It's okay Bruce, we understand completely," he said apologetically.

Bruce sighed and ran both hands through his hair; I just got kissed by a god…who is a guy! At least he looked like a girl…Bruce shook his head and picked up his glasses from the ground; he slipped them on gently and then glared at Tony, "This is all your fault, Stark…"

"Look Bruce, I'm really sorry; I just wanted you to have little fun…" Tony frowned, "I didn't mean to piss you off….at least not that much."

Bruce suddenly felt exhausted and yawned, "Well, apology not accepted, so if you don't mind, I'm gonna try to get some sleep so I don't have another accident anytime soon." He pushed past Tony and walked over to an empty leather couch and fell asleep instantly.

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Steve and Tony were the only ones still awake on the plane. Everyone had decided to go to sleep after the "incident" mostly to avoid talking about it. Steve looked up from his sketchpad, and whispered quietly to Tony, "Stark? Why didn't your pilots come check to make sure we were okay back here earlier?" Tony looked up at Steve and grinned, "Cause Jarvis is flying…"

Steve nodded slowly, "Oh, I guess that makes more sense now…" He closed his sketchpad and set it down on the table next to his seat, he stared out the window for a while and then looked at Tony, "Do you ever wonder why Bruce doesn't want to…you know…socialize?"

Tony stopped reading through his cell phone files and looked thoughtfully at the Captain, "Gee, I don't know Cap' maybe it's because he's worried about the other guy."

Steve shook his head and murmured even quieter, "No, I don't think that's the main reason…I had a reason for a while and it was a good one too, but I got over it eventually. Whatever Bruce's reason is, it's obviously big enough that he's never gotten over it Tony."

Tony frowned, " Well, he's never really said anything about it, but I'm sure whatever it is, he'll learn to get over it soon."

Steve shrugged, "I don't think it's gonna be that easy for him Stark; knowing that you're a walking time bomb must be really stressful" he paused for a few seconds and glanced over at the sleeping figure of Bruce, "Do you even know what he was like before he became a monster?"

Tony shook his head, "Nope, I've never asked him, and all information about him has been wiped out…we have no way of knowing anything about his past."

Steve stretched out his arms and yawned, "Well, I bet whatever his issue is, it has something to do with his past…our pasts always do a damn good job of haunting us…"With that being said the two decided to go to sleep, and they were both out cold in seconds.

Bruce was biting his lip; he had been awake the entire time. They were right, they knew nothing about him…his past was a painful one…one that he wasn't very willing to share. He didn't want to socialize because he was afraid of what would happen. His life was a mess before, and that past haunts him constantly. He was afraid to try moving forward with his life again because he might just keep adding bad memories to his already horrible past. There was no one that could ever make him happy or accept him for who he is, people would always be afraid of him….so why bother having a social life at all.

_This is going to be a very long week…._


	5. Chapter 5: Wake Up Call!

**I am a horrible person and you have full person to just broadside my face with Mjolnir if you want. I took a long time to write/post this and i'm really sorry. I got major writer's block and for some reason I just couldn't focus when I tried writing a new chapter, but it's all good now and I promise to be better about my timing. I also promise to speed things up soon enough! ;D So read on and enjoy and pretty please leave a review. I'm setting a goal of at least two for this chapter, so come on I know you guys can give me at least that much feed back. lol, anyways enjoy this little chapter of warm fuzzy morning goodness!**

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Bruce woke up groggily as the demigod impatiently poked him in the side and stated loudly into his ears, "Friend Banner! The man of Iron has requested that I wake you up as we have arrived at our destination!" Bruce grumbled bitterly to himself and hastily tugged his pillow over his head. He was still incredibly pissed off at Tony, and was about two seconds away from déjà vu by nailing Thor in the face with his own human fist, but he decided it was best not to…the poor guy hardly understood how annoying it was to yelled at to be woken up. It was like high school all over again without the cocky, douchebags that pissed him off all day…._oh wait, there was….._

Tony came swaggering up behind Thor, and gave him a pat on the back, "Nice try L'Oreal, but you probably just made him ten times harder to get up now, so go get some pop tarts before we have to go, mmkay?" Thor looked rather disappointed at his failed attempt to wake Bruce, but left merrily on his way to get his infernal pastries.

Tony sat down on the edge of Bruce's makeshift bed on one of the jet's multiple couches and he sighed loudly, "You know Bruce, it looks absolutely beautiful outside and the guys are all dying to go, so I would highly suggest getting your ass out of bed right about… now." He playfully ripped the pillow off of Bruce's head and grinned smugly as the bright sunlight made his friend squint sleepily as the light lanced through his vision.

Bruce groaned in annoyance and longed to just fall right back asleep, but Tony was obviously not gonna let that happen. Why did his eccentric science bro have to be so damn persistent about this trip? Hadn't he made it obvious that he had no desire to go back at the tower? He pushed himself up on his elbows and glared at Tony with his tired, brown eyes, "Why do you have to be such a dick, Tony?"

Tony just rolled his eyes at Bruce's rather crude remark, and threw the pillow into his face, which Bruce proceeded to shove off the couch in frustration. Tony got up and strode over to Bruce's suitcase he had gotten him, and snatched it with his free right hand, the left was behind his back for some reason, as he approached Bruce's side again. "Okay, sleepy-head, time to get yourself dressed and ready to roll in the next fifteen minutes," Tony smirked ruefully and took his left hand out from behind his back, waving the classified manila folder in front of Bruce's face, "then maybe I might even let you play with your fun genetic shit and what not…" The corners of his lips spread widely in a mocking grin.

Bruce gave a quick gasp of surprise and tried to snatch the folder from Tony's grasp, but he was too slow, and Tony was already skipping away to the door leading to the kitchen on the jet. He held it above his head triumphantly and motioned at the suitcase he had opened on the bed for Bruce, "Get movin' tough guy, and then you can have your stupid mission stuff, but fun stuff first…then you can science it up all you like," he backed away from the currently fuming doctor and snapped smartly, "just for future reference, you might be happy to know that we are back in Manhattan."

The door shut behind him, leaving Bruce standing alone and looking rather dumbstruck. The door cracked open once more and Tony said with his usual snarkiness, "You're welcome by the way." And with that, the door shut again with a light click from the door.

Bruce exhaled a soft sigh of relief, and he walked over to the suitcase that Tony had thrown open; apparently he hadn't lied when he said he'd get Bruce some "decent clothes." The entire suitcase was filled with neatly folded, brand new piles of clothing. Bruce wasn't really sure how Stark had done it, but the stuff he had picked out wasn't half bad…well, it wasn't something he would normally wear, but it wasn't incredibly flashy like he was expecting from the playboy billionaire.

Bruce had pulled on a pair of pale blue jeans, that were loosely cut, and slipped a brown leather belt through the belt loops.

Was it creepy that Tony knew all his sizes?

_Yes. _

Surprising?

_Not even a bit._

Bruce continued to rummage through the huge, leather suit case and after a couple of minutes, settled with a white, long-sleeved shirt. He pulled off the plain grey t-shirt he had worn to bed, and tossed in next the sweat pants he had worn to bed as well. He pulled the shirt on, and wasn't all that surprised that the shirt was a bit too tightfitting for his taste; not to mention the collar was a slight V-neck with three little buttons. He left the buttons as they were, top two undone and the third at the bottom done.

He started to fold his night wear to toss into the suitcase and noticed out of the corner of his eye a box of contacts in the bottom of the heap of clothes. Bruce rolled his eyes and slammed the case shut, then readjusted his glasses. _Nice try Tony, but I'm not gonna give into your antics that much…at least not yet._

Bruce existed the room with all the team's stuff and shut the door quietly behind him; the guys were all congregated around a table that was stacked high with boxes of pop tarts, assortments of cereal, and about three gallons of orange juice; two of which were completely empty…Thor had just discovered it not too long ago and introduced it to Loki and, apparently, they had a bit of an obsession for it.

Steve was arguing with Clint about a riddle on the back of a box of Lucky Charms; something Bruce had learned about those two, after living with them for four months, was that they had a strange addiction to riddles. The funny thing was, they both sucked at them, and Tony almost did a spit take from laughing as Clint exclaimed, "But Steve! He's a fucking leprechaun! He could just ride away on a goddamn rainbow!"

Steve started to bicker with Clint about the nature of leprechauns, making Bruce chuckle quietly, and suddenly everyone was silent and noticed their teammate's presence. Steve looked rather confused by how he was dressed, and Tony was practically beaming, "You see Bruce, you look great! Not like some stuffy old-school professor now."

Loki nodded in agreement at Banner and examined the simple outfit with a critical eye, "I have to agree with you Stark; you weren't lying when you claimed that Banner was actually well built."

Bruce snorted and looked at Tony raising an eyebrow, "Well built? You guys were talking about my stature and muscle build for what reason exactly?" he asked with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

Tony shrugged and lazily tossed a grape in his mouth, "Well, you always wear those baggy clothes, and the team has had this conversation a billion times and we were taking sides with all are different theories," he shot a smug look at Clint and stated mockingly, "looks like you owe your girlie friend a couple bucks, don'tcha Clint?" Clint huffed to himself and crossed his arms, bickering silently and Tony continued his explanation for Bruce.

"You see Bruce, my side's theory was that you actually were pretty damn well built because whenever you hulked out, it was pretty obvious that the hulk was frickin' huge, so my team naturally figured you had a similar stature."

Bruce removed his glasses and started playing with them in his hands, this seemed like it would be a long story from his oddball team and frankly, he didn't really wanna know why his team was talking about that sort of thing to begin with. _Sometimes I wonder about those weirdos_…Bruce shook his head and the corners of his lips turned upwards in a small smile.

His friends were still talking about that strange topic, when obviously Tony got bored and interrupted loudly while slipping on his favorite sunglasses rather dramatically, "Alright, I don't know about you guys, but that conversation has been soooo overused, so I say we all get a move on and hit the city; we've got places to be and babes to do!"

Thor cheered enthusiastically and raised his massive mug of orange juice into the air, "Yes! Let us hit the babes and do the city!" Loki face-palmed next to his big, idiot of a brother, while Clint sniggered behind Thor's back; The ridiculous demi-god would probably never grasp the idea of how people talked here on Earth…

The guys began to charge happily off the jet after the swaggering form of Tony Stark. Bruce sighed and ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper curls; it was going to be a long day and he could already feel the pit of worry growing in his stomach. He wouldn't be able to bear it if something went wrong today, he didn't want another incident like Harlem…

Suddenly, he felt a large hand on his shoulder and he looked up at Steve, who was smiling kindly down at him. He patted him on the shoulder and said calmly, "Just relax Bruce; everything is going to be just fine, I promise." He smiled again and began to walk after the rest of the group; he paused to look back at Bruce and nodded at the rest of the team running down the stairs, "We've got your back, and if anything goes wrong, we'll be there for you. So, let's just go have good time." The Captain was being completely serious, and he strode down the stairs, close behind Loki and Thor.

Bruce shook his head lightly and slipped his glasses back on; the team had his back…no, his family had his back. As long as they were there, he could trust in himself that nothing would go wrong.

_Yeah, nothing will go wrong…what could possibly go wrong?_

* * *

**Yay! Excitment! a Bew chapter wooooooooooo! Now show me the love and review and I'll tell you what, give me a design for the OC coming in soon, she's a 27 year old girl so go ahead and spit ball a discription and maybe i'll pick yours! it's like a contest now! Woooo-hoooo! So hit me with your best shot peeps!**


	6. Chapter 6: People Watching

**AUTHOR'S NOTE****: Hey guys! So i finally finished finals this week (probably failed them with my luck) and i started writing this chapter! This is probably the fluffiest filler chapter I have ever written in ages, but i plan to start writing another one soon and i promise that Bruce will finally run into this ellusive OC gal. I got a billion different designs for her, from my bffs, and i kinda started formulating a plot with her background history...b/c honestly i was just kinda going ahead and writing without a plot, but it's all good now b/c i have one and although it's not a super crazy, invasion filled, action plot, it'll still be exciting, I promise...it's leading up to the sequel...which will be focusing on Clint atand will be filled with much more action, I swear! yaaaay! That's all i'm gonna say for now, but i hope you enjoy this lame little fluff bunny b/c it luvs you!**

**P.S. please remember to review, i don't get a lot on input and it seriously helps a ton so just jot down a quick message and call it a day, that's all i ask of you, thanks!**

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Bruce looked warily down at his feet and then looked up nervously at Tony. He had been expecting Tony to bring the team somewhere totally crazy and uncomfortable for him...like a strip club or some other scandalous place that Tony had probably been to more than once. He hadn't exactly anticipated struggling to stay on his feet on a pair of roller blades at the Riverside Trail…

Why did Tony decide to go roller blading? Because he's Tony freaking Stark, and he loves to build things for fun in his time…and apparently he had found the time, on some random day, to create customized roller blades for everyone…They all matched everyone's superhero uniforms or signature colors, _of course_, Bruce noted unhappily.

He knew Tony liked to build things, but seriously…roller blades?

_What. The. Fuck. Tony._

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Tony had snatched his hand and pulled him up from his seat on an old park bench that was in dire need of a paint job. He tugged him forward and pushed him away from the bench, "C'mon Bruce, you'll only keep falling on your ass if you don't actually try to learn to skate!" He said this as Clint practically flew by at an incredible speed, weaving through the team…backwards.

Tony pointed at Clint with his thumb and said smugly, "See, Legolas over here is already a master." Bruce stumbled in place and caught his balance on a fence. As soon as he decided he was standing stably, he shot a glare at Tony and said hotly, "Well, he's probably had lots of time to learn, so…" Bruce released a small yelp of surprise as his feet slipped out from underneath him and he fell flat on his back.

Clint strode by slowly with a smirk on his face. Looking down at the fallen scientist, he sniggered happily, "Actually, Bruce, I haven't skated since I was like ten," he leapt in the air to spin in a 360 past Tony and his fallen comrade, bragging loudly, "But I am a pretty fast learner I guess." He landed the 360 on one leg and spun away like a whirlwind, still showing off his intense "skillage;" a term he often used for his many talents and abilities..

Tony rolled his eyes and offered Bruce a hand to help him up. Bruce stubbornly accepted his offer, and was pulled up carefully onto his wobbling feet. Tony then pulled Bruce along slowly at his side, gripping his wrist gently, and he pulled him towards the rest of the team. Bruce had silently been hoping that at least the two demigods would be struggling to skate as well, so it wouldn't be him alone who was failing, but sadly, he saw Loki sliding around gracefully on the worn pavement; much like a professional ice skater would, while Thor happily chased Clint in his attempt to match his insane speed.

Bruce sighed to himself and readjusted his glasses, which still were lying askew on his nose from his fall. He wasn't overly fond of their first activity, but he probably wouldn't enjoy any of them anyways. Tony then began to lecture Bruce on how to skate properly; frankly he wasn't good at explaining it, but none the less, he seemed to have his mind set on teaching Bruce to skate.

Bruce frowned slightly at Stark's seriousness and asked curiously, "Why do you want me to learn to skate so badly? It's not that important of a skill." Tony smirked knowingly about something and began skating in slow circles around Bruce with his hands clasped behind his back and he stated smugly, "I'll tell you exactly why this is important, Bruce. It's important because it's always a fun dating option…" he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows, "you catching my drift?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow at Tony and huffed, "Dating option? I hate to break it to you Tony, but I'm pretty sure that I won't be dating anytime soon. Besides, the other guy probably would be an issue and not to mention…" he looked down at his feet sadly and mumbled, "…most women aren't interested in me…"

Tony looked at him disapprovingly and inquired softly, "That's exactly why we are doing this, Bruce. Think of it as…an intervention or something. We're trying to help you with your relationship issues," he beamed at Bruce happily, "that way, you aren't acting like such a pitifully shy, quiet, stressed out, introvert all the time and you can get out there and get some!"

Bruce's eyebrows creased and he stared at Tony with an unconvinced glare in his eyes. He couldn't imagine that the rest of the team was in on this little "intervention" of Tony's because they were all off racing each other down the Riverside path, but Tony still seemed pretty serious about it, and he was staring at Bruce waiting for his approval to continue his lesson.

Bruce sighed and ran his fingers through his dark curls, he rolled his eyes at Tony and mumbled quietly, "Okay fine, just…ugh. I'll keep playing along with your silly, little relationship guru thing for now, but as soon as we're finished doing this craziness, I want to pick where we go next."

Tony grinned triumphantly and saluted mockingly, "Yes, sir. Where ever you wish…just try not to pick something too boring bro, mmkay?"

After about an hour of Tony's snarky lecturing and several falls and crashes into various trees, bushes, poles, and team members, Bruce was finally able to skate on his own two feet.

Tony instantly wanted to go celebrate with alcohol at the nearest bar, but the team Bruce and Steve ended up convincing him otherwise; after all…it was only eleven in the morning. _Just a tad too early for that, Stark._ Bruce groaned in annoyance when Tony began to argue with Steve about going to drink at night instead. Steve was mostly worried about Bruce, and that was his main argument against Tony, but damn was the man stubborn. He refused to listen to Steve and childishly shoved his fingers in his ears and shouted "I'm not listening!" repeatedly.

Clint and Loki stood close to each other whispering, while eyeing Tony and Steve mischievously. Bruce saw the two nod and exchange a handshake with one another, and Bruce chuckled quietly; they were placing bets on who would win the argument. Thor probably would have been in on it as well, but he was too distracted by the tiny squirrel that was somehow sitting in his cupped hands peacefully eating a seed. How the massive demi-god managed to do that, Bruce hadn't a clue, but it was definitely a funny sight to see.

Bruce sighed and pulled his sleeve back, on his left arm, to check the time. It was now eleven thirty, and the two heroes were still in a heated bickering match which had somehow strayed onto the topic of all the pranks Tony had played on Steve. "Tony, all I want is to be able to go to bed at night without having to be paranoid that some stupid little prank is gonna be sprung on me!" Tony sniggered and snapped happily, "You had that one coming, Cap. You turned my music down, I could barely hear it."

Steve was fuming, which was rather funny looking with his hot-red tipped hair, "That doesn't give you an excuse to blast Shoot to Thrill so loudly that my ear drums almost explode at 3:00 in the morning !" Tony shrugged and crossed his arms across his chest firmly, "That is a great song, I would be so happy if someone did that to me you know…" he was about to add another snarky remark, but Bruce had decided to intervene. It was almost noon, he was starving, and as amusing as it was for him and the other three to watch them argue…it was getting old…and fast.

"Hey, how about we call it day on this bickering match and go grab a bite to eat. Thor's probably considering eating that squirrel right about now," he grinned humorously and finished, "you know how he gets when he's hungry, he might break something."

Just as Bruce had interjected his statement Thor had re-approached the team with his familiar, sad puppy dog eyes bit and he whined loudly at Tony, "Man of Iron? When shall we leave this Trail of Riverside and locate a meal?" He batted the eyelashes of his icy blue eyes at Tony, while his brother rolled his deep green ones. His brother was so helpless, and he could clearly understand why the team called this particular facial expression the "puppy dog eyes" face.

* * *

Tony had brought the team to the little diner where they had eaten shawarma after the chuitari invasion. The place was fixed up pretty well, and it was kinda nice to eat there again just for grins. The team had decided to sit at the tables outside for once, since it was a warm, sunny day out, and Bruce was happy with that. It was fun to people watch as they walked by. Tony and Clint made it their goal to point out all the hot girls that walked by and point them out to Steve; their favorite ploy to make him blush…it always worked.

While the group sat and chatted around their huge order of food; Thor ate a ton and apparently Loki did too! No one had any idea how they could eat so much food, but they did anyways…_must be a god thing, _Bruce thought_._

Bruce zoned out of the group's conversation and continued to people watch. He enjoyed watching people; he was the quiet one on the team, and even though he was no Natasha, he was still great at reading people. He had to be when he was on the run; he had to be able to tell if he could trust someone, and he could now expertly recognize different microexpressions that would give away a person's true intentions. His eyebrows creased in confusion and concern when he noticed a coppery-brown haired woman stomping away angrily from a tall dark haired man. She was yelling at him about something, and as she turned to walk away, he grabbed her wrist tightly and yanked her to his side. He whispered something in her ear and Bruce could see her tense up worriedly. She slowly nodded her head and the man barred his teeth in a gruesome grin. He held his grip on her wrist and pulled her away down the sidewalk, and around the corner. Bruce had caught the woman's light-brown gaze for a moment though, her eyes were full of fear, and a pit of worry grew in his stomach.

Bruce wondered what the hell had just happened, and he had to admit that the scene was rather suspicious, but he decided since it was none of his business, that it was best that he didn't do something. Although, in the back of his mind, he scolded himself for not taking action. _I really hope that she's not in any danger…_"Bruce?" Suddenly, he snapped his head back around when he heard his name being said. Steve was watching Bruce with a slight look of concern and he murmured quietly, so the rest of the team wouldn't hear the side conversation, "You okay Bruce? You looking a tad freaked out for a bit."

Bruce shook his head and smiled reassuringly, "Uh…It was nothing, I'm fine. I was just…thinking." Steve nodded back and returned a small smile, and then they both rejoined the teams' conversation: their next destination.

They were all bickering excitedly, apparently Loki and Steve both wanted to go see a baseball game and Tony, Thor, and Clint all wanted to go play laser tag…after taking some shots. Tony exclaimed insistently, "It makes it teen times more fun when you're a little tipsy! As long as you don't sprint into a wall, it's a total blast!"

Bruce rolled his eyes and chimed in with a smug grin on his face, "Tony, Do you recall making a certain science bro a promise when we were skating?" Tony's smile turned into a sad frown and he grumbled stubbornly, "Yeah…I do," he promptly told the team to shut the fuck up and explained that it was up to Bruce, "okay then Banner, where to?" he said flatly.

Bruce smiled to himself, knowing that his choice was going to piss most of the team off because they'd think it was boring, but…he was trying to piss Tony off anyways, so he didn't give a shit. In fact, he didn't even have the desire to go here either; he just wanted to get a little payback at his eccentric friend. He smirked at Tony and crossed his arms, "Okay then Tony, I'll tell you exactly where I'd like to go…"

Let's just say that all Tony said was something along the lines of "Fuck you, Bruce!"

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**Tada! Cliffhanger of annoyance! I know, lame cliffhanger indeed, but if you know Bruce well enough, you'll probably jump to very quick conclusions; what's boring and takes a lot of patience to go through? Or just imagine what you wouldn't find Tony doing for fun, or better yet, just wait til i post the next chapter XD. **

**Anywhoooo...i'm just gonna throw this little spoiler out there: you now know the OC's hair color! dun dun duuuuuuuuuh **


	7. Chapter 7: Sweeping Her Off Her Feet

**Author's Note****: So here you have it, another chapter. You will now learn the most epic pick up line ever...well at least the most epic pick up I suppose. Oh, prepare yourself for some major Tony whin-age. He's not very fond of museums. You also finally get to meet the OC, she isn't very well developed yet, but we will get there. I promise! XP Anywhoooo, enjoy this chapter and please review.**

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Tony loves parties. Hell, he lives for them! His company had hosted parties at various museums at least a billion times…or least it seemed like it. But if there was one thing Tony knew, it was that he'd much rather be running around, downing shots at an open bar, than actually visiting a museum.

He had little patience for history; that was then, this is now. He enjoyed living in the present and partying like there was no tomorrow. The sheer idea of walking around the American Museum of Natural History and just reading metal plaques, in front of dusty artifacts, bored him to death.

"Bruuuuuuuucccceeee, can we please just go! We've been here for hoooooours," Tony whined childishly as he dragged his feet behind Bruce and the rest of the team. Bruce glanced over at Tony, rolling his eyes, and sighed exasperatedly, "Tony…we've been here for _five_ minutes."

Tony's jaw dropped open and he released a groan of boredom, "Ugggggggggggh, you're kidding me right! I'll never make it past the dinosaur exhibit," he pointed a finger gun at his head and moaned dramatically, "just skip the torture and kill me now."

Tony looked up from his ranting and watched as his team members strode away from him, after the over-excited Thor… and Loki. The two had lived here for quite some time now, but every now and then, they showed a massive interest in the "strange ways and history of Midgard." Thor thought that everything was just amazing because…he thought it was amazing. Loki, on the other hand, was only interested in gaining some sort of information to use against earth…at least that's what Clint suspected. So he ran off after the green t-shirt glad god, and watched him like a hawk. He of all people didn't want Loki pulling off any funny business; that, and he loved trying to out prank Loki just about everywhere.

Silently in his mind, Bruce feared for the museum's well-being; those two could dish out quite some damage when their prank wars got out of hand. Bruce shuddered as he recalled the last time one of their pranks took out an entire floor of the Avengers tower. It had all started when the team had sat down to watch How I Met Your Mother; the episode where Barney created the exploding meatball sub. The next day the team arrived in the kitchen for dinner to find a raging, sauce covered Loki and a hysterical Clint rolling around on the ground. After using that prank on Loki, the battle of the explosive foods started. No one could have ever guessed that pie would have enough fire power to destroy an entire floor…but Clint and Loki had found out the hard way.

Bruce smirked at the thought, and then continued walking along with Steve. They were waiting for Tony to catch up with their little duo, since the other three had taken off to the ocean exhibit…..Loki really liked dolphins I guess.

Tony tapped his foot impatiently when he caught up two the two, and he huffed loudly behind his friends to display his obvious boredom. Tony leaned against the wall next to the exhibit Bruce was examining with a keen eye, and he decided to take off the edge of his boredom by people watching. Tony's eyes lit up when he spotted a small trio of woman striding past them.

There was a rather loud, long haired blonde who was rambling on, about how much she would rather be shopping, to the fair skinned ginger with tight corkscrew curls. The third was a tall, olive skinned girl with medium length copper-brown waves. She rolled her honey brown eyes at the two girls and pushed her small silver glasses up on her nose, flicking through the museum brochure, mumbling soft spoken, "You were the ones who offered to take me anywhere I wanted since I moved here in the first place, so stop you're complaining." The curvy blonde pouted her cherry red lips and noticed Tony watch them walk by. She grinned seductively, flipping her hair and shooting him a quick wink, following her small group further into the exhibit.

Tony playfully returned the wink and eagerly interrupted Steve as he asked Bruce a question, "Just to let you guys know, three total cuties just passed us, and it seems to me that we have three very capable hotties just standing around, so how about we ditch this place and go have ourselves some fun?"

Bruce rolled his eyes and snipped at Tony unhappily, "You were the one who promised to let me pick the next place, and I did, so just knock it off, Tony."

Tony crossed his arms smugly and quipped, "Dibs on the blonde, you can have the brunette, Bruce, you two sticks in the mud seem like you'll get along just swimmingly."

Bruce reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, growing quite tired of Tony's annoying interjections and complaints. He really felt like giving him a piece of his mind.

There was a rumble of approval in the back of his mind. He quashed it, but he could still feel anger creeping at the edge of his mind. "I say we just go now," Tony continued, "the others guys will never notice we're gone, and we can go have some fun and get Bruce a girl while we're at it."

Bruce slammed his hands down on the cold metal railing in front of him and snapped forcefully, "Will you just shut up! I don't want your help!" Flecks of green showed in his eyes for a moment and then he hung his head. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, then turned abruptly, walking away from the two.

Tony opened his mouth to apologize and took a step forward to go after his friend, but Steve had placed his hand on Tony's shoulder and fixed him with a hard stare, he ordered quietly, "Leave him…I think he needs some time to be alone."

Bruce's pace picked up steadily once he rounded the corner, now walking briskly, his thoughts raging around in his mind. He always ran from everything his whole life, and he didn't plan on leaving his friends anytime soon, but sometimes, getting away from them made things a little bit better….right now he just wanted to be alone.

* * *

"Come on, Char, can we just go already!" the blonde groaned for what seemed like the billionth time into her ears, and frankly, Charlotte was fed up with it. The brunette gave an exasperated sigh and she looked over at her two friends, Kandi and Trish; Kandi was short for Kandice and Trish was short for Trisha, it was just a friend thing to call each other by their nicknames.

The redheaded Trisha scrunched up her eyebrows and smirked knowingly, "You're gonna tell us to just go to the mall without you aren't you?" Charlotte's smiled shyly and pushed her hair behind her right hair, one of her habits that she had picked up as a kid, "Um…yeah, I was kinda hoping I could just stick around for a little longer."

Kandi was examining her make up in the little handheld mirror she carried in her purse, and flipped her hair in her usual flirty fashion, chiming in sassily, "I bet she just wants to stay behind and get her hands on those fine fellows back there, ay?" Charlotte felt her cheeks flush bright pink and she shook her head insistently, "I…I. No…I couldn't, Jackson wouldn't be very happy about that…."

Trisha frowned at her friend worriedly and asked sternly, "I thought you were going to dump him weeks ago, Char." Charlotte's mouth fell open, but no words came out and she sighed sadly, "…It's not that easy Trisha, he's got a temper."

Kandi's silver eyes lit up with anger and her nostrils flared as she slammed her mirror into her purse forcefully, and she snatched up her friend's hands, clasping them tightly, "Charlotte Jay Bourne! That boy is no good, and I swear to God, if he's laid another hand on you, then I will take one of my nine inch Stilettos and drive it up his a.."

Trisha shot a serious look at her overacting friend and continued on a softer note,"Charlotte, if that boy is hurting you, then you have to dump him okay? If you want one of us…"

Kandi snapped, "Or both of us." Trisha nodded, "yeah, or both of us to be there when you kick him out, then by all means, we will be there, okay?"

Charlotte looked up at her friends with her soft brown gaze and smiled, shaking her head, "Honestly guys, its fine I swear, Jackson will go as soon as get home tonight, I promise."

The two girls looked unsatisfied, but they gestured to their friend once more, begging her to go shopping with them, "…because seriously, you're fashion sense isn't nearly good enough for the Big Apple."

Charlotte examined her simple outfit; a pale blue blouse and her favorite, worn out classic blue jeans. She shrugged and readjusted her glasses, they had slipped to the tip of her nose when she looked down to look at her choice of clothes.

From there, she and her friends parted, and she went on her way. She wove her way backwards, wanting to backtrack a little bit to return to the exhibit on genetics that was visiting for a while. She was walking briskly, she had promised to meet her friends within two hours for dinner and she had a lot to see. She pulled a brown elastic from her wrist and reached up to pull her hair into a quick ponytail; she hated hair in her face.

Charlotte rounded the corner sharply, not watching where she was going as she pulled her hair up.

The two ran into each other almost instantly at a breakneck speed.

Let's just say when two people are walking quickly at the same time, running into each other in a head on collision is not a fun experience.

Charlotte gave a yelp of surprise and he gave a cry of pain as her elbow hit his head. The man almost lost his balance, and his hand shot up to his head, clutching it in pain. He glared at you and spat rather angrily, "Hey, Watch it!"

Charlotte jumped slightly; she was startled by his harsh reaction, and she stepped forward quickly to apologize, but tripped over her own feet, falling forward. She fell into the man's arms and she looked up worriedly, preparing herself for another outburst, and he looked about to as well, but their eyes met and she saw they were electric green.

He looked away for a moment and closed his eyes. He breathed deeply for a minute, shook his head, and looked back at her with a slight smile on his lips. "I'm sorry...I shouldn't have yelled at you like that," he said softly as he adjusted his glasses. "My name's Bruce...uh…Bruce Banner," he stuttered nervously, a slight blush now coloring his cheeks.

Charlotte couldn't help but notice that his eyes were now a soft brown color, and was confused. She didn't want to appear rude, but her thoughts flooded from her lips and she stuttered quietly, "I could have sworn your eyes were green..." She watched his eyes grow wide, and her hand shot up to her mouth,silently cursing herself and her big mouth.

Bruce looked worried for a moment and then shook his head, "I…I believe you're mistaken," he began to wring his hands together and he muttered quickly, "I have an explantation to explain why you're mistaken, but…uh…you probably wouldn't want to hear."

Charlotte examined the man before her with a keen eye; he was wearing a long sleeved, white shirt and a pair of jeans, his curly brown hair was graying in some spots, and his skin was well tanned. He smiled awkwardly at her, and it suddenly dawned upon Charlotte that she had been staring at him for a while now.

Bruce bit the inside of his cheek nervously; she was obviously staring at him and it was making him even more nervous. _What if she recognizes me? What if she runs screaming and starts making a scene! _Bruce decided to play it cool and tried smiling at her. She returned the smile, mush to his relief and then she squinted down at the ground with a searching look.

He saw a pair of glasses laying in front of him and he knelt down to pick them up, just as she did as well. They both reached for the silver glasses, and instead their hands brushed.

The girl withdrew her hand quickly, a noticeable pink blush coloring her olive cheeks. Bruce picked up the glasses and handed them to her, "Uh, these are your right?"

Charlotte nodded silently and accepted them, slipping them onto her face and blinked a few times, she smiled thankfully and tucked her bangs behind her ear, "Yeah, thanks, um?"

She couldn't remember his name! He just told her a few seconds ago and now she couldn't remember! _Typical_. She fumbled through her thoughts, trying to recall his name: _did it start with a C? No. A P, definitely a P…_

Suddenly, he chimed in himself and said, "Uh, Bruce Banner…"

_Damn it….I knew it started with a B…_

Bruce pointed his thumb over his shoulder and started to back away slowly, "Um, I'm sorry for running into you, but I should probably get going…"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Tony was next to Bruce, grinning from ear to ear and he asked coyly, wiggling his eyebrows, "So, Bruce, who's this lovely lady?"

Bruce narrowed his eyes at Tony, and opened his mouth to tell Tony to scram, but instead he whispered quietly into his ear, "Not going anywhere big guy, not until you ask her out for coffee or something, because you were clearly about to make a run for it."

Bruce bit his lip, he had run into the girl and told her his name, but she had never once told him her own name. Bruce knew Tony was right, he was going to run, but this girl was really, quite pretty, and probably way out of his league. He sighed to himself; she probably wouldn't want to go out with a guy like him anyways, especially once she knew about the other guy…if she hadn't already guessed.

She stuck out her hand to Tony, the corners of her lips turned upwards, "Hi, my name's Charlotte Bourne; and If I'm not mistaken you are Tony Stark, right?"

Tony smirked smugly, already showing signs of his usual bragging and he accepted her hand, "The one and only."

Charlotte's grin grew into a starry eyed smile and she exclaimed, "Wow, it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mr. Stark! I'm a huge fan of your new work on clean energy…plus Ironman is pretty kickass.

Bruce frowned slightly; he felt completely out of the picture again, and he silently cursed Tony for being such a playboy. Tony said nonchalantly, "Well, you know, I guess it is pretty awesome being a super hero and all…." There was a low rumble of anger in the back of Bruce's head again, and this time he shoved it aside for good. Now was not the time to be angry…even if Stark was being a total jerk and flirting with Charlotte.

"Well, Mr. Banner?" Bruce looked up from his feet and noticed Charlotte standing in front of him, "What do you do for a living?" Bruce saw Tony open his mouth, ready to answer for him but he blurted out quickly, "I'm a partner with Stark, we work together."

Tony looked annoyed for a moment, but then gave Bruce a silent thumbs up, nodding eagerly, urging him to invite her to coffee. Bruce ran a hand through his salt and pepper curls and said quietly, "You know, I could tell you more about it over coffee sometime tonight…that is, if you want to."

Bruce watched Charlotte pull out her phone and eye it nervously; she was biting her lower lip and furrowing her eyebrows in thought. She turned the phone on mute and then slipped it into her back pocket again, looking up once more, giving him a soft smile. "I think I would like that a lot…" she shifted her weight to her side and added curiously, "Well, Mr. Banner, now that we have plenty of time... I'm very interested to hear this explanation of yours."

Bruce nodded and smiled awkwardly again, "Please, Call me Bruce."

* * *

**Next chapter:** **Conversational skills...One thing Tony will hopefully not intervene on...but perhaps another certain green character might feel the need to. tehe! til next time! pleaase review so i can feel the love. 3 Starseer7296**


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